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>• LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.! 

Chap. £ 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. \ 



Second Edition. 



Price, 10 Cents. 




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NORUMBEGA, 



The Ancient City on the Charles. 



By a Member of the 



Watertown Historical Society. 



j 



k 






Waltham, Mass., 
John Adams, Printer, 



NORUMBEGA, 

The Lost City of New England. 

A nonymous. 

Three centuries or more ago, 

In fifteen hundred and twelve or so — 

On this the facts are meager — 
There spread to every land the name, 
And oft was sung the wondrous fame, 
Till Hun and Vandal, Frank and Dane 

Had heard of Norumbega I 

The maps would place it here and there, 
But its position none could swear ; 

One said near Del Fuega. 
A Spanish skipper conning his log, 
Swore by his beard 'twas "No'th o' Magog." 
In fact the world was all in a fog, 

About fair Norumbega ! 

The roving Norseman asked in vain, 
Whither this land, and o'er what main ? 

For silent is the Saga; 
What boots it if we miss the shore, 
We can but do as oft before; 
Up, comrades, let us weigh once more, 

And ho for Norumbega! " 

Just from the joyous accolade; 
Leading the glittering, gay parade, 

Rode Miguel della Viga. 
Quick spake he to his lady fair, 
" My signet ring I prithee wear, 
For o'er the sea I'm going — there 

To fabled Norumbega ! " 

From matin prayer and vesper feast, 
Arose the cowled and surpliced priest, 

Who spake aloud thus eager — 
" The morrow's sun shall scarce appear, 
But all that once was sacred here 
I leave without a sigh or tear, 

For wondrous Norumbega I " 



The pirate shortened all his sail 
While listening to the fairy tale, 

Then lifted high his beaker; 
Pledged he his life to mate and crew, 
As o'er the waves his galley flew, 
That e'er the coming moon was new 

He'd sight fair Norumbega ! 

But viking fresh from roving flight, 
Freebooter, monk, and mailed knight. 

From Alpha to Omega, 
Reached not the goal for which they pressed ; 
For some sailed east and some sailed west ; 
But never a man when put to test, 

Had seen fair Norumbega ! 

'Twas sixteen hundred, so they say, 
When the fabled city passed away, 

Not razed by armed beleaguer ; 
More like the leaves before the wind, 
Or dreams that vanish from the mind, 
Till nought was left so one can find 

Where stood fair Norumbega! 



Chap. I. 
THE LOST CITY. 

HOW many, many years the old legend has been repeated, — 
three or four hundred, doubtless, of a civilized city once 
found in the then savage wilds of New England ; but which mar- 
vellously disappeared, or eluded search, and could never again be 
discovered ! 

What strange race was it which lived here then, neither white 
nor red, but with arts and inventions different from either ? Some 
of our students think the Indian race had been here less than a 
century when the white man came. 

All our poets have in turn rebuilt those old castles up into the 
air. But was there a city ? Where did it stand ? Bangor, Me., 
has generally claimed to be its site ; though its ruins have never 
been found there. In fact it had no ground, except that the old 
maps represented the lost city as upon a large river on the north- 
ern part of our coast. Presuming upon so slight a claim, Bangor 
has gone the unwise length of being proud of her alleged precur- 
soress. Norumbega has long been the pet word there ; — No- 
rumbega Hall, Norumbega Block, — Lodge, — Society, — Market, 
— Shoethread, — Hens ; everything beloved is Norumbega. 

The Maine Historical Society even proceeded to secure the ser- 
vices of the great historian of Bremen, Dr. Kohl, to write up their 
history, and he has unearthed more maps and documents referring 
to our coast than were ever known of by any one person before. 

But pride goeth before a fall, for the remarkable effect of this 
new research has been to discover the renegade Norumbega on the 
Charles river, in Massachusetts, leaving Bangor shoethread a poor 
orphan, and even worse ; for it has not only lost its parentage, but 
found it never had any ! Possibly Norum was twins, however, as 
will be seen further on. 



At all events Norumbega has come to stay on the fair shores of 
:ham and Weston, Mass . as the fine tower there rearing stands 
vr.ee. 

i.scussions evoked by the recent discoveries are noth- 
but are only the renewal of a warfare of centuries' du- 
_ . : r be quoted to show that fierce 
European quill-fights were long and often waged, in regard to 
whether there ever was such a place; and if so, whither it had 
But now, new light is thrown on the vexed question. 
One of the points well e? : by modern historians is that 

.rica was well known to Northern Europe for many centuries 
before Columbus enlightened Spain on the subject. If, according 
the Icelandic records, Thorfm returned home from this country 
and died from the wound of an Indian arrow, and if his widow 
went to Rome on a pilgrimage, did not C<: lumbus get his knowl- 
edge of the existence of America while he lived in Rome ? 

Recent collections of the Indian legends of New England show 

..ir.d. Norway, and even Germany ; — 
manv of them being identical. This similarity demonstrates a 
continued intercourse between the two continents at a time when 
iegends were rife in Europe. 

The publications of Dr. Kohl reopened the various historical 
rsh; and the many old maps which he resurrected 
?.ere the objects of diligent study. 

Prof. E. N. Horsford, the eminent scientist of Harvard College, 
soon called attention to the fact that these maps locate Norumbega 
in the 42 d degree of latitude where the Charles river is, instead of 
the 44th where the Penobscot is. And his examination of the evi- 
dence so satisfied him that the junction of the Stony Brook with the 
Charies River was the place to look for traces, that he drove thither 
□ : 585, and found some of the landmarks which have since excited 
so much interest 



WHAT DO THE OLD BOOKS SAY? 

What, then, was this ancient Norumbega Legend ? 

" An ancient great city," says one writer in 1570, with a s'-: 
and dextrous people, hazing thread of cotton" 

" Up said river about fifteen leagues," says Alfonsce in 153c. 
" there is a Town called Norumbega^ an I there is in it a Goodly Ni 
ber of People, and they have manie Peltries of manie kinds of Animals." 

"A Story which had gained currency from a period as far 
the time of Allfonsce, about a larg Nt Town in the V in u hose 

Inhabitants had attained to some of the higher Arts of Ci~: 'tun, 
was wholly without Foundation." So said Champlain in 1550, on 
his return from the Western Continent. It is thought that the find- 
ing of the great city was the prime motive of his voyage. 

But David Ingram, an English sailor, gave fuller particulars. He 
had been put ashore in Mexico, with others, by Sir John Hawkins, 
in 1568, for want of ship-stores, and wandered a year up the cor." 
tinent afoot, coming at length to Norumbega, a city three-quarters 
of a mile long. Returning, thence, to England, he told Sir John 
such stories as surpassed belief, of monarchs on golden chairs and 
houses with silver beams, and pecks of pearls. Thevet, the trav- 
eler, was presnet, and corroborated him in many points. Whether 
this happy valley was on the Charles or among the Mississippi 
Mound Builders is not stated. 

Another writer says the people were black, and their city near or 
in Florida. There is no doubt Cape Cod aud Florida were con- 
founded by some geographers in those times. 

" One of the finest Rivers in the World atl said 

Thevet, a monk and a celebrated French traveller, whose book 
claimed to describe our whole coast in 1556, from Florida to Nova 
Scotia. " The French had formerly little Fo>: 

leagues from its mouth." Dudley, in 1656, speaks of Charlestown 
as " three leagues up the Charles River* 1 And as the mouth of the 



Stony Brook is four leagues above Charlestown, the " ten or twelve'" 
would be a fair guess, — certainly as near a$_Bangor, Me., which is 
seventeen leagues up the Penobscor. 

The author of the " Universal History of the West Indies" pub- 
lished in 1607, asserts that " Norumbega is known well enough by 
reason of a fair town and a great river; though it is not known 
whence it has its name ; for the Barbarians call it Agguneia." 

Thus we have the explorers' Words ; next we will quote their 
Maps. 



WHAT DO THE OLD MAPS SAY ? 

On a French map dated 1543, is a river, widening as it goes down 
and looking like Deadeye's pant leg. Up at the right is a picture 
of a fort, thus : 



-y^r 




On Mercator's map of 1569 the fort is larger, and marked — 
" Norumbega." It is on the right of a river marked '' R. Grande.'' 
It has Y branches, and does not seem to have been made from the 
former. 




On Wytfliet's map of 1597, North America, with the picture of 
one single fine city, is like the countenance and eye of the late 
lamented General Cyclops. This is also marked " Norumbega" 
but is stretched across the Y. 




Here the river is marked " R. Grande." A fort, like a story" 
does n't lose anything by repetition ; and the improved legend 
gained acceptance all over Europe. 



Chap. II. 

NORU.MBEGA. 

WHAT DOES THE NAME INCLUDE? 

THE name, " Norumbega," is not now known to have been 
used before 1537, when, in an account quoted by Ramusio 
from a French captain is the passage : 

" The country is called by its people ' Nurumbega.' " 
And this was the generally accepted name of this continent until 
its permanent settlement after 1630. Capt. John Smith speaks of 
Virginia in 1620 as a part of Norumbega. 

Meanwhile, Thevet in 1566 designates the River by that name; 
while Mercator's map of 1569 and Wytfliet's of 1597 both call the 
river "J?. Grande-," and the city, " Norombega." Thus the name 
was sometimes given to a city, sometimes to a fort, sometimes to a 
river, sometimes to a district, and sometimes to the whole country. 

ITS DERIVATION. 

Prof. Horsford said : " Norumbega was an Algonquin or Abena- 
ki word." 

Thevet says that in 1556 the Iroquois were at war with the Algon- 
quins, and temporarily had possession here. The Massachuset 
tribe which our forefathers knew here were Algonquin. 

Thevet says : "' We call the River Norumbega, but the aborigines 
call it Agoncy." 

Ramusio says : "The country is called by its people Norumbega. 
There grow the orange and the almond." This might derive the 
word from some of the Southern Cherokee dialects. 



II 

On the French map of 1543, the name of the river was given as 
Aoumbeque. It might be that that was the original form of the word 
and that it was afterwards corrupted into Norumbega. The name 
was certainly variegated considerably in spelling by the old author- 
ities, thus : Norum-, Norom-, Norem-, Nurum-, Nurem-, -bega, 
-begua, -bee, -beque. Ramusio calls it Nurembeque. Ruscelli in 
1 561 puts it as Nuremberg, as if it had been named after the little 
old city in Bavaria. Artemus says a man is a fool who can't spell 
a word more than one way. 

In Paradise Lost, Lib. X., Milton spells it thus : 

"Now from the north 
Of Norumbegua and the Samoed shore, 
Bursting their brazen dungeon, arm'd with ice 
And snow," etc. 

ITS MEANING. 

The documentary evidence is, we thus find, as contradictory as 
to derivation and orthography as it is as to locality. The meaning 
of the word has been considered important evidence ; but the 
many meanings given it by our best linguists are as diverse as the 
spellings, and remind one of the contents of a country store, — 
you can get anything from it that you want. We will spare our 
readers' tears by forbearing to quote the many-colored translations, 
— all improbable. From such a Babel of dialects as the American 
Indians had, no value could be attached to any alleged translation 
as evidence on the question. A more reasonable meaniug will be 
given farther on. 

ITS LATITUDE. 

On the matter of latitude there is considerable concurrence, 
however, as before stated. The vet's latitude for the river is 42° 
14' ; his longitude 31 1° 50 , which we should now reckon as near 
Constantinople ! But their ways were not as our ways, nor their 



thoughts as our thoughts. This latitude may indicate either the 
Charles, the Mystic, or the Merrimack. Any one who was only 
acquainted with European rivers might call either of these " One 
of the finest rivers in the world," if he did not sail up too far. 
The Y is poorly represented on either of them, 

On nearly all the known maps, — twenty, more or less, — dating 
before 1600, the river is pictured as large and long, and running a 
little west of south ! Its longitude is about the same as the Bermu- 
das. These points indicate the Penobscot as the one intended. 
On the other hand the latitude of its mouth is two hundred miles 
too far south on the maps for the Penobscot. So we are still able 
to have our choice. In fact the maps are a sad travesty of the 
coast-line in all respects. 

With our minds bewildered rather than enlightened by all this 
legendary rubbish, we now turn to the newly discovered works 
themselves, hoping for intelligence of the runaway city. What may 
be seen at the mouth of the Stony Brook ? Multitudes of pilgrims 
travel thither each season, to give a guess on the great conundrum, 
and to eat sardines. 



Chap. III. 
THE OLD FORT ON THE CHARLES. 

THE MOAT. 

GOING by the Fitchburg Railroad, one debarks at Roberts' 
Station, and follows the left-hand road quarter of a mile. 
By the steamer White Swan from Waltham one lands at Lily Point 
and rows quarter of a mile to Roberts' Paper Mill, or follows up 
the riverside on foot, which is about twice as far. 

On the right of the street at the mill mighty excavations have 
latterly been going on, where scores of carts and barrows were 
preparing the drained bed of the mill-pond for a monster reservoir, 
to wet the myriad whistles of the thirsty city of Cambridge. In 
1886 they drank their own pond dry and then bought this one. 
It was remarkable that such extensive excavations for other pur- 
poses should have been made here at the very time when public 
curiosity was centered on the spot. And it was more than remark- 
able that during the removal of all the diluvial deposit from the 
entire valley, not one relic of a former race should be found, except 
the ditch described below, and a couple of arrow-heads. Beside a 
river swarming with the finest food-fishes one would expect to find 
many relics of a former nation. And whether we think of the fair 
New England as lonely and unpeopled for thousands of years agone, 
or as busy with nations now gone into oblivion, without leaving any 
mementoes or traces, leading" lives as unremembered and ephem- 
eral as the very insects which flitted here, the reflections are sad- 
dening and painful. 

Stony Brook was originally ten or fifteen feet wide here. Then 
it was dammed for the mill into a fine lake half-a-mile in length 
by an eighth* broad. The dam is just by the bridge where the 



14 

street crosses. A few rods above begins the ditch or moat which 
is part of the new discover)'. A cross-line of cobbles would indi- 
cate a once little dam made to turn part of the stream into the 
moat. This ditch follows down the side of the brook a dozen rods 
nearly to the river ; then, cutting through the point of land follows 
up the river bank to a cove. There it emptied into the river when 
it was a waterway, many generations ago. 

Here must have worked a large and busy band of men, then, as 
lately, to dig this extensive ditch, 2300 feet long — nearly half a mile, 
and perhaps ten feet deep in places ; in others but two, through 
land solid with paving-stones. And yet we cannot learn what 
language they used to swear in at the cobbles ! 

For what object could such a trench have been excavated if not 
to protect a fort ? All the lads of this century hereabouts have 
observed it as they have wandered through these woods with their 
fish-poles and their pockets full of mudworms, and have thought — 
as many still think — that it was for a waterway while the dam was 
building, not realizing its unnecessary length. 

Another suggestion was of its being a fish-way, which the 
law till within fifty years required around dams for salmon to go up 
to visit their country relatives in berry time ; but if it had been for 
them, the highway would have had a culvert, and it would have 
been seen in use by people now living. 

Irrigation has also been suggested, but a glance at the soil will 
dispel that theory. 

Granting, however, that either of these purposes would account 
for the existence of the moat, there are other evidences of fortifi- 
cation which are more conclusive. 

THE HILL AND THE WALLS. 

After crossing the South street bridge you take the first cart-path 
to the left. Near the Charles River bank will be found* a little bluff, 



*5 

very round and with steep sides, — a perfect site for a small fortifi- 
cation. This hill-top would accommodate a hundred men. Below 
by its side, and towards the two streams, is an oblong inclosure of 
walls protected in front by the deep moat. It is a very primitive 
affair ; but there is not much doubt of its defensive purpose. The 
great length of the ditch is here accounted for. To find water high 
enough to fill the moat protecting the fort-front, it was necessarv 
to go half-a-mile up the brook. And no little digging was to 
be done to bring a stream hither. The moat is some ten feet above 
the present river-level. The undammed river-level was perhaps 
five feet lower. Either river is within a stone's throw. On the hill- 
top, no doubt, near the stone tower, were the larger strongholds 
builf of logs. 

All around the water-front was the moat. And on this side of the 
hill we find long stretches of bank-wall built into its steep slope, 
rendering them steeper and hard to climb. It will be difficult to 
give this revetement, the moat, the barrier, any agricultural explan- 
ation. The former is three feet in bight, built of cobbles. 

THE RIVERWALL. 

Then in the river we find something still more remarkable. Here 
the Charles is near half a mile wide, — the larger part of that width 
being occupied by two islands towards the further or Auburndale 
shore. There is in the river a wall, long and heavy, connecting the 
island with the further shore ; shutting off the shorter passage and 
making boats take a long detour by the fort. 

As part of the beautiful Fowle Estate, this wall has been changed 
into a promenade. But many remember its original form as it was 
a few years ago. It was certainly an unaccountable construction 
a mysterious barrier in the unfrequented stream ; too solid for an 
Indian fish-weir, as may be seen by comparing the one at the Watch 
Factory, or the one at Natick. Considered in connection with the 
earthworks by its side, the riverwall presents convincing evidence 
of there having been a important station here. 



i6 
A RELIC. 

In November, 1887, a curious relic was dug up by one of the 
laborers near the fort. And of course the finding of a weapon or 
utensil would date the whole matter better than all theorizing. The 
article is a dirk five and a half inches long when open. It has a 
metal blade three inches long, very rusty, but the edge nearly in- 
tact, being slightly nicked. The steel is thin, seven eighths of an 
inch wide, of lanceolate form. It is attached by one rivet to the 
handle, into which it could once be closed. The handle is of dis- 
colored tortoise shell, or possibly elkhorn, with the laminations 
badly abraded by exposure, and was bent together in making by 
softening with heat, being all of one piece, like a turnover. Thus 
it leaves the groove in front for the blade to shut into, and is whole 
on the back, being kept from spreading apart by two more rivets 
at the ends, all three having copper burrs. The handle is widest 
at the blade end, and curves suddenly up to protect the blade 
point. The workmanship was undoubtedly fine in its day and the 
curves are exquisite. Doubtless it was of European manufac- 
ture. Dr. Putnam, of the Harvard Museum, Dr. Frank, of the 
British Museum, and the archaeologists of the Copenhagen and 
Antwerp Museums, were unanimous against any great age for 
the clasp-knife. The sagas describe a knife of their period as of 
bronze, with a twisted tooth handle. They also speak of a spoon 
of copper. The testimony of this relic is in favor of 1676 as the 
date of the fort. 

There were no wealthy farmers likely to spend hundreds of 
pounds on any foolish experiments here. 

If the Puritans did not fortify here, there are four other possible 
projectors, without crediting the legend of a fabulous black settle- 
ment on our river. 



Chap. IV. 



THE MYSTERIOUS GARRISON. 

WERE THEY INDIANS? 

THE Indians not infrequently built strongholds, either in the 
lowest swampy fastness, or on the steepest hill. These 
would be surrounded by a palisade of logs driven down and 
pointed on each end, with a trench breast deep on either side. 
Our Algonquins were an agricultural people, and would not de- 
cline the labor if it were thought of and desired. 

WERE THEY MOUND-BUILDERS? 

In pre-historic times the whole Mississippi Valley was for cen 
turies densely populated by that highly civilized race we call the 
Mound Builders. They were not Indians. Their skulls have no 
foreheads. The red man was their dreaded enemy. They piece 
ded the Aztecs of Mexico. The latter conquered them and were 
embodied with them. Very probably the last of the Northern 
Mound Builders were extirpated at Natchez in 1720. Their signs 
approach no nearer than Western New York. That being their 
frontier their earthworks differ from those at a safer distance. 
We find usually in that State a combination of mound and enclos 
ure, but with the ditch on the outside of the parapet. 

They had many civilized arts, and made cloths. Quite possibly 
Norumbega was one of their towns, but not in New England. 
Some old American books of antiquities make frequent allusion 
to a magnificent city in Arkansas, which has similarly never been 
found. 



i8 
WAS IT THE NORSEMEN? 

The Sagas are the traditional records of Iceland. They give de- 
tailed accounts of the discovery of a country they call Vinland, 
about the year iooo, and of its occupancy by the Norsemen for 
two hundred years. Every seaport on our shores is at present in- 
fested with one or more " Saga-cranks," each insisting on locating 
Vinland at his own harbor, and heaping mounds of ridicule on the 
claims of rival harbors. Prof. Horsford, in his -recent address 
before the American Geographical Society, claimed to have found 
located on the Charles River ample evidence of the ancient Vin- 
land seaport. He said : " There is not a square mile of the basin 
of the Charles which does not contain incontestable memorials of 
these people ; " and specified that there are everywhere dams, 
ponds and canals made for the collection of the blocks of burr-wood 
with which they supplied Europe at fancy prices. There is, how- 
ever, a decided unwillingness among the present residents of the 
"basin of the Charles," to see any such evidences of preoccupa- 
tion. Our local historians are unanimous in denying the existence 
of any Norse work in Watertown. The strongest point in the Pro- 
fessor's claim seems to be that the cobble-stone dam at Watertown 
was built before the white man came ; and there is no proof now 
at hand to the contrary. There are also many short ditches near 
the river at various places. His new version of the name " No- 
rumbega " is an improvement. He considers it the Indian pro- 
nunciation of the Norse name "Norvega," which we call "Nor- 
way " in English. 

A perusal of the dear, old Professor's published works, and par- 
ticularly his book on phrenology, will convince most readers that 
he is sometimes a little wild in his theories. 

WERE THEY TRADERS ? 

For more than a hundred years preceding the landing of the 
Pilgrims the invention of the compass had filled the North Atlan- 



*9. 

tic with adventurers, some fishermen, some fur-traders, and some 
freebooters or pirates. Visiting these shores periodically for longer 
or shorter, they must have had many strongholds. So far from 
carrying home intelligence, or publishing maps and travels, they 
would sedulously keep the secret of their Eldorado for their own 
benefit. They would build a refuge ; but it must be out of sight. 
The head of tidewater was always five miles below here ; so no ship 
could come up, theirs or an enemy's. Leaving their ship unmanned 
at Watertown, or bringing up luggage so far, seems improbable 
and unnecessary. Thevet says his fort was surrounded by fresh 
water, — and it was, no doubt, for a good purpose inaccessible by 
ships. Yet it is quite improbable that many men had had a home 
here for years ; the stones would have been picked up better. 
Their village was more likely to be on the intervale above. Rivers 
were the Indians' highways for trade or war. They could paddle 
as fast as they could walk, and carry their luggage much more 
easily. An Indian told the writer that he could paddle twelve 
hours a day for many days without exhaustion. As fur-trading 
depots were on all rivers, no doubt the men " struck it rich : " for 
furs commanded large prices in Europe at that time. 

WERE THEY THE PURITANS? 

Justin Winsor, the librarian of Harvard, has elaborated a theory 
to account for the works, claiming that the first Boston was com- 
menced here as a place of security ; but that the site was soon 
abandoned for the more accessible one. We now offer a new ex- 
planation of the raison d'etre of the Stony Brook earthworks, which 
solves their mystery at once, and renders all the pre-historic re- 
search superfluous. 

WERE THEY THE COLONIAL FORCES? 

At the time of King Philip's war, 200 years ago, while he was yet 
sweeping resistlessly over our new settlements, the lower towns 



were in a desperate fright. Through the winter of 1675-6 the chief- 
tain had struck and consumed like the thunder-clap in every direc- 
tion ; and as the spring of 1676 opened, a meeting of delegates 
was held tor the building of a big stockade or a stone wall eight 
feet high, from the Charles to the Merrimack, following the line of 
Stonv Brook, the Lincoln ponds and the Concord river, for the 
purpose of enclosing and protecting the most valuable part of the 
colony. They made their survey on March 31st, and agreed that 
it was impossible. Each man reported to his own town, and the 
town-records of that date give the whole story. A fair sample is 
in the town records of Newbury. They say : "We have ordered 
several houses on the line to be fortified, and men appointed, and 
are about fortifying with a mile or somewhat more, from river to 
river, if men will own our power, (and we trust they will), with 
their own to complete our trust." 

That the work was built here then there can be but little doubt- 
The excitement kept increasing till the final struggle in August. 
All the wealth and business interests of the commercial towns must 
be protected. There were strong military reserves on guard along 
the line. And although the Charles had never been used by the 
savages for canoe attacks, the people well knew what terrible on- 
slaughts did frequently sweep down the streams, and also that this 
river came directly from Philip's country. There is sufficient evi- 
dence that a system of works then instituted was consummated by 
experienced military officers. 

ITS PROBABLE DATE. 

The age of the work is a vital phase of the question. Till very 
recently these shores have been a wild, unbroken forest. Inside 
the trench there are many stumps of large-sized trees. These 
prove from one to two hundred years' age for the moat. 



"MAPPA MUNDI," 
By Michael Lok. 
Prof. Horsford calls attention to the old map of the world by 
Michael Lok, dated 1582, upon which New England is represented 
by a large island, and is marked " Norombega," with the explor- 
er's name and date upon it, thus: "J. Gabot, 1497." That was 
one year before Columbus discovered the main land. This map 
shows that he followed up the river of 42 deg. latitude. 

5° 

--^ 

C. Breton. 




This is " Norumbega " on map of North America by Michael 
Lok, 1582. 

Thus this may be Cabot's " Landfall " 

And it may be near the mysterious antique city, — another Pom- 
peii. 

And it may be the site of the " little fort the French had formerly 
erected," mentioned by Champlain. 

Or it may have been simply one of a multitude of forts which 
are the invariable accompaniment of river settlements in a new 
country, the like of which is known to have existed on nearly every 
river on our whole coast. 

But however visionary all these theories may be deemed, there 
is but little room for doubt that here was a provincial work of de- 
fence. 



NORSE TOWER 

Erected by Prof. E. N. Horsford, on the Site 
of the Fort of Ancient Norumbega, 

On the north bank of the Charles River, near the borders of the 
town of Weston and the cities of Newton and Waltham. Mass. 



4*. 







s- 






aP> 




23 



Representation of Tablet 

On the Norse Tower erected by Prof. E. N. Hors- 

ford on the site of the Fort of Ancient 

Xorumbega. 




A. D. iooo. A. D. 1889. 

NORUMBEGA. 
City — Country — Fort — "River. 



NORUMBEGA — Nor'mBEGA 

Indian Utterance of Norbega the an- 
cient FORM OF NoRVEGA — NORWAY — TO 
WHICH THE REGION OF VlNLAND WAS 
SUBJECT 

City 

At and Near Watertown — Where Remain to- 
day 
Docks — Wharves — Walls — Dams — Basins 

Country 

Extending from Rhode Island to the St. Law- 
rence 
First seen by Bjorni Herjulfson 985 A. D. 
Landfall of Leif Erikson on Cape Cod 

1000 A. D. 

Norse Canals -Dams -Walls- Pavements 

Forts- Terraces- Places of Assembly 

Remain to-day. 

Fort 

At Base of Tower and Region about 

Was occupied by the Breton French in the 

15th - 16th and 17th centuries. 

River 

The Charles 

Discovered by 

Leif Erikson - iooo a. d. 
Explored by 

Thorwald - Leif's Brother- 1005 a.d. 
Colonized by 

Thor'finn Karlsefni- 1007 A. D. 
First Bishop 

Erik Gnupson-ii2i a. d. 
Industries for 350 years - Masuh Wood-Butts 

Fish- Furs- Agriculture 
Latest Norse Ship returned to Iceland in 1347. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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